![]() With over 1,800 flight hours to his name, I felt more than safe with Bratton at the controls. A decorated pilot and United States Naval Academy graduate, Bratton joined the Blue Angels in 2019, and currently serves as the air show’s narrator and deputy coordinator, another role No. Bratton piloted the aircraft as part of his regular responsibilities as Blue Angel No. This year, Owensboro Detective Hunter Hinton and I were the lucky ones chosen to experience firsthand what it takes to be a demonstration pilot, from the backseat of the cockpit behind one of the best of the best from the U.S. This is the part where it is pretty common to pass out from the gravitational force as the acceleration of the jet and the G-forces working against it will drain the blood from the brain down to the feet, resulting in a loss of consciousness.īut first, you are probably wondering how I got here.Ī prelude to the weekend’s Owensboro Air Show, I was given a once-in-a-million-lifetimes opportunity to take a VIP flight as part of the Blue Angels’ influencer program, which selects two extremely lucky civilians from the local community for a ride-along. ![]() 7, said through a microphone into my helmet before he kicked on the jets and sent our fun little joy ride through the spin cycle. “Get in your G-strain,” Lieutenant Julius Bratton, Pilot No. Then with the flip of a switch, the fun game of “Where’s Madisonville?” came to an abrupt end, and the opening bell rang for a heavyweight fight with gravity. God’s Country, we call it, stretched as far as I could see in any direction, and the views were incredible. Wide-eyed and in disbelief of life in that moment, I tried to trace the highways and the Ohio River to spot any familiar areas below. The twin-engine fighter jet’s canopy allowed 360-degree aerial views of the landscape down below, and my head swiveled back and forth to soak it all in. Western Kentucky has never looked more beautiful than it did from the cockpit of a Blue Angels F/A-18 Super Hornet cruising through clear blue skies at 5,000 feet.
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